SHORT SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL & ASIA 2015

Another full house of short film fans gathered for the last program today. Asia International & Japan Program F leans toward a deep, varied & art-short film flavor & the full room enjoyed a long, informative & interesting post-screening Q&A.                                               Ke-xi Wu came to represent another of the 2 shorts that she appears in at our festival this year. “The Place On the Sea” is an ethereal, other-worldly short about a ghost who comes to the palace in the sea with her lover for final dance. Ke-xi is quite stunning in person & many of our festival goers were amazed at how she changes her appearances in the 2 films. She told the audience that the location of this film is in Kaohsiung (Taiwan) harbor in an old decrepit 3-story boat was actually the remnants of a restaurant-boat like that ones that are popular in Hong Kong. The city of Kaohsiung didn’t really want the director to shoot in that particular area because it was in the “old” section of the harbor & had a general rundown & dirty look which of course is what the director wanted. A brilliant film with a fine performance by Ke-xi. Next was director Tsukasa Kishimoto & lead actor Shogen for their fish-out-of-water story “Kerama Blue” about a couple from France going through a difficult time who come to Okinawa for the husband’s work as an undersea photographer & his Japanese wife who happens not to speak Japanese. Shogun is their local guide & the film is all about cultures & languages colliding but eventually the “foreigners” come under the spell of this tropical heaven & are saved by the magic of Okinawa.                                                                                                                    Finally Ken Ochiai returned to the festival with his new short film “Dance Dance Dance,” an entrancing short about a DJ who is devastated by the loss of his love to the tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 as result of the Tohoku Earthquake. It’s altogether enchanting, haunting, modern, cool & quite simply the very unique, creative vision of director Ochiai. He’s off to Vietnam next week for his next project & we cannot wait to see what he creates next.

Well, sad to say that already, it’s the last day of the festival tomorrow. PLEASE come see us.

DJ John